Ziggy Palffy retired Wednesday—which means that Tuesday, Ziggy Palffy still was an active professional hockey player.

Palffy, 42, apparently got tired of dominating Slovakia's top league; he had 26 goals and 47 assists in 39 games last season, which was in line with his production since he left the NHL in 2006 for family reasons after 42 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Jozef Stumpel, left, and Ziggy Palffy are friends and longtime members on Slovakia's national team. (AP Photo)

“One morning is more beautiful than the previous one, and you have other opinions,” Palffy said, as per the IIHF website (via Pro Hockey Talk). “At this point, I believe that I quit. Definitive.

“Already I do not want to travel anywhere. Did it enough.”

Indeed. In 684 games with the New York Islanders, LA Kings and Penguins, Palffy averaged more than a point per game and scored more than 40 goals three times. In short, he was one of the best wingers of his era—and maybe it's because his NHL career was over at 33, but that's gotten lost in the shuffle.

He's also one of a few Czechoslovakian-born 90s-era standouts who still are playing (and not named Jaromir Jagr or Miroslav Satan). That country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, remember.

Petr Nedved, Czech Republic: The 41-year-old winger has played six seasons in Czech's top professional league; in 48 games with Liberec Bili Tygri HC, he had 20 goals, 33 assists and a league-leading 151 penalty minutes. That last number is bizarre; good luck finding any other guys with 99-point seasons under their belt who wind up averaging more than three PIMs a game. For the record, two guys have accomplished that in a single NHL season—Kevin Stevens in 1991-92 and Rick Tocchet in 1992-93.

Nedved, the eighth-leading all-time scorer among Czech players, was one of the last to defect from the former Soviet Union, then played for seven NHL teams. He's best remembered for his time with the New York Rangers—and his contract disputes.

Jozef Stumpel, Slovakia: Also 41, Stumpel spent last season with Slovakia's Nitra MHC, totaling 13 goals and 37 assists in 52 games. He was done in the NHL when the Florida Panthers waived him in 2008. At his best, with the Los Angeles Kings (and Palffy, a close friend), Stumpel was a point-per-game player. He's the seventh-leading all-time scorer among Slovakian players. Sixth: Palffy.

Martin Straka, Czech Republic: He peaked as an NHL player in 1995, when he had 95 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins, largely on a line with Alexei Kovalev and Robert Lang. He also wound up playing—again—alongside Jagr with the Rangers from 2005-08 before leaving for Pizen HC of the Czech league. He had 54 points in 2012-13.

Martin Rucinsky, Czech Republic: A first-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in 1991, Rucinsky had 612 points in 961 NHL games and peaked in 1995-96 with the Montreal Canadiens, when he had 25 goals and 35 assists in 56 games. Last season, with HC Litvínov, he had 13 goals and 14 assists in 33 games.

Radek Bonk, Czech Republic: The third overall pick in 1994 by the Ottawa Senators, Bonk took a handful of seasons to develop into a 70-point scorer, a mark he hit in 2000-01. He also played for the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators before leaving for the KHL in 2009. He's spent the last four years with Oceláři Třinec of the Czech league and had 40 points in 39 games last season.